Aerospace & Defense 'They say code is red': transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk
A Ryanair aircraft, which was carrying Belarusian opposition blogger and activist Roman Protasevich and diverted to Belarus, where authorities detained him, lands at Vilnius Airport in Vilnius, Lithuania May 23, 2021. REUTERS/Andrius Sytas
A Ryanair pilot who landed his plane in Belarus on Sunday repeatedly questioned information about an alleged bomb threat, before ultimately agreeing to land in Minsk, according to a transcript released on Tuesday by authorities in Belarus.
Belarus scrambled a warplane to escort the flight, which was en route from Greece to Lithuania. When the plane landed in Minsk, Belarusian authorities arrested a dissident journalist. Western countries have described the incident as a hijacking or piracy.
The transcript released on Tuesday differs from excerpts previously released by Belarus state TV, which had attributed some of the pilot's remarks to the controller. State TV had pointed to its version to argue that the pilot had asked to land in Minsk, rather than that the controller had advised him to do so.
Following are excerpts from the transcript, which Reuters was unable to verify. For clarity, the call sign, RYR 1TZ, which both the pilot and controller repeated when they spoke, has been edited out.
